Crist Agnostic on Senate Caucus

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who recently announced that he was leaving the Republican Party to run for the U.S. Senate as an independent, refused to commit Sunday on which party he'd support if elected.

When "Meet the Press" host David Gregory asked, "If you are elected as a senator, will you caucus in the Senate with Republicans?" he received this response from Crist: "I'll caucus with the people of Florida. And, as I said earlier this week, I'll caucus with anybody who will help my fellow Floridians.

When pressed by Gregory to make a choice, Crist refused.

"Well, when I'm an independent, I'm going to do what I think is in the best interest of my people, and that's my decision," he said. "And that's what I'm going to do for Floridians. And that's what people want. They don't want you to say, look, you have to either go with Democrats or Republicans. You have to go with your gut and with your heart. That's what this country needs now more than ever, and that's why I'm running independent.

Gregory then asked if Crist would vote for a Republican or a Democratic Senate majority leader.

"I might not vote for either one," Crist said. "You know, I'm going to vote for who I think would be best for the people of Florida. And if that happens to be a Democrat, so be it. If it happens to be a Republican, so be it. But I got to look out for the people of my state. I mean, we've got candidates now in this race, one that's on the hard right in [former GOP state House Speaker Marco] Rubio, one that's on the hard left in [Democratic Congressman Kendrick] Meek; you know, sort of the big government guy and the big corporate guy. And then you've got a commonsense guy right down the middle that wants to represent the people of the state and do what's right. It's not right vs. left, this is about right vs. wrong."

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who recently announced that he was leaving the Republican Party to run for the U.S. Senate as an independent, refused to commit Sunday on which party he'd support if elected.
When Meet the Press host David Gregory asked, If you are elected as...